**3. Sugarcane in the world**

production process in this sector, especially with regard to the sugarcane harvesting [1]. Many studies have been performed in the sugar-energy sector using mathematical and computational modeling techniques in the mechanized harvesting planning. These studies present methodologies to optimize the sugarcane harvesting planning aiming to maximize sugarcane production; minimize costs related to harvesting; minimize the number of maneuvers of the harvester machine; optimize routes for the transport of machines and trucks and many others. The mathematical tools use continuous, discrete and heuristic

According to Sethanan and Neungmatcha [2], one of the important aspects to increasing sugarcane mechanized harvesting efficiency is the optimal planning of the harvesting. These authors noted that minimizing the distance traveled during the harvesting and maximizing the sugarcane production, many economic and environmental gains are achieved. However, these are difficult task to implement because there are conflicting objectives that need to be considered simultaneously. Most of these and many other aspects of the sugarcane industry make their management very complex. In addition to the intrinsic knowledge on the part of the managers, the agro-energy industries have sought partnerships with researchers from universities and research centers to assist them in the development of an optimized crop management. In this way, the development of scientific methodologies such as mathematical modeling and operational research (OR) techniques to aid in decision-making has been very

Based on the above discussions, we propose in this chapter to present a review of the important works that use mathematical and computational tools, aiming to optimize the management of

This chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 describes the evolution of mechanized harvesting in the world since the 1940s. Section 3 presents the world scenario for sugarcane production and harvesting. Section 4 describes the types of harvesting in several countries, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. Section 5 presents the relevance of the mathematical

There are reports on the use of mechanization in sugarcane harvesting since the 1940s; however, due to the great loss of raw material caused by the first harvester machines, mechanization did not gain importance in this period, predominating manual harvesting until the 1950s [10–12]. From the 1960s to the 1980s, there was a great increase in the use of mechanization in the sugarcane harvesting. In the 1960s, some countries, such as Australia, used the mechanized system in about 80% of the sugarcane harvesting [10, 11]. At the end of the 1970s, the sugarcane harvesting in Australia reached 100% of mechanization [13]. In some other countries, the mechanized system was introduced only in the late 1980s, due to labor shortages, economic and environmental problems [14]. Mechanization requires large initial capital

optimization models applied to the sugarcane harvesting process.

**2. Evolution of the mechanized harvesting of sugarcane**

optimization techniques [2–7].

208 Sugarcane - Technology and Research

important in this area [7, 9].

sugarcane, in the past 30 years.

Sugarcane is a semi-perennial crop and is produced in several regions in the world. According to Kim and Dale [18], in the past, the main uses of sugarcane in the world were basically for food manufacturing and seed extraction. Over the years, the sugarcane started to be looked as an energy feedstock rather than a food and this fact made its production grow significantly. The global evolution of the area planted with sugarcane and the amount harvested for mechanized and manual harvesting are presented in **Figure 1**.

Brazil has remained the world's largest producer of sugarcane since 1970, followed by India, China and other countries (**Figure 2**).

**Figure 1.** Sugarcane production in the world [19].

**Figure 2.** Top 10 producers of sugarcane [19].

Therefore, it is evident the importance of sugarcane for the economy and sustainability of several countries in the world.
